Teller Identifies Suspect

Man Charged In Heist Is Former Classmate

FORT LAUDERDALE - — A teller helped police quickly track down a bank robbery suspect on Monday after she recognized the man as an old high school classmate.

Charles Alfonso, 24, was charged with robbing a First Union Bank branch after a teller told police she remembered him from Stranahan High several years earlier.

Police say Alfonso walked into the bank at 1100 State Road 84 about 9:15 a.m., handed a teller a note and made a motion implying he had a gun, police spokeswoman Sonya Friedman said. The robber was given a stack of money with an exploding dye pack hidden inside.

Officer Larry Lohsen, who was investigating car burglaries across the street, ran to the bank after the alarm went off. He got a general description of the suspect, a long-haired man.

Lohsen asked another teller for a better description and she replied: "I can give you his name. It's Charles Alfonso."

Police entered Alfonso's name in a crime computer and came up with an address in the 800 block of Southwest 26th Street. Alfonso had previous arrests on various charges, Friedman said.

Officer Frank DelRio found Alfonso at his house. He was arrested without incident. The red dye-stained money was found in the parking lot of the nightclub Stud, next to the bank, Friedman said.